WSHC blog

Tags >> Bromham

Family historians are missing out!

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jan 28, 2012

We get a great many visitors passing through our doors, honing in on those invaluable parish registers, wills, non-conformist records etc. Some venture further, taking a look at what else the History Centre has to offer, but for many, little do they realise that they are missing out on some essential information – the contextual evidence that brings life to those ancestors they are searching so long and hard to find.

The Wiltshire Local Studies Collection is a unique resource available at the History Centre which can do just that. I have searched the shelves to give you just a taste of what is on offer if you have a little extra time to look whilst you are here. If not, many of our books are available to loan via your local library, all you need to do is put in a request.

Memoirs

Comment (0) Read More...

And a Wiltshire New Year to You!

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jan 4, 2011

Tagged in: Wiltshire , William Henry Tucker , wedding , wages , Trowbridge , treat , trade unions , Swindon , Sunday school , snow storm , Sir Edward Bayntun , schoolmasters , schoolboys , reverends , railway accident , polka , plague , New Year’s Eve , New Year , Lords , Lord Methuen , locomotive superintendent , Langley House , Langley Burrell , Kington St. Michael , Keren Wood , John Couzens , Jeffery Whitaker , Jackson’s Lane , Isambard Kingdon Brunel , inhabitants , Herbert Spackman , GWR , Graham Awdry , gauge , gardener , Francis Kilvert , flooded , experiences , Edwad Awdry , diary , Daniel Gooch , dances , Corsham Court , Corsham , Commonplace Book , clothier , Bromham , Bristol , Bratton , Bella Dixon , ball , authors , architect

 As the New Year is now upon us, I thought to take a look at how some of our previous Wiltshire inhabitants spent their New Years’ Day by taking a look at their diary entries. The authors’ backgrounds range from lords to schoolboys, schoolmasters to reverends, and how different their experiences of New Year were…

 Advert from the Wiltshire Times, 1st January, 1910, p.7

Advert from the Wiltshire Times, 1st January, 1910, p.7

It was the plague that was the main concern at the beginning of January in 1666 when Sir Edward Bayntun of Bromham noted in his Commonplace Book on January 6th  :




Comment (0) Read More...

Local History and the art of serendipity

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jul 9, 2010

Tagged in: Yorkshire , Wiltshire Weather Proverbs , Wiltshire shepherd , Wiltshire Libraries , Wiltshire Independent , Wiltshire Council , Wiltshire Archaeological Society , William Camden , Westmorland , weather , Wales , verdict , Titchborne Claimant , Times Digital Archive , The Preston Guardian , The Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser for L , Terry Bracher , Swindon Libraries , Swindon Borough Council , subscribe , stories , Sir Roger Titchborne , Shrewsbury , Shoulder of Mutton , serendipity , search terms , Rev. C. H. Smith , researchers , relieving-officer , records , Public House , prison , poor man , Poor Law , online , observations , Nineteenth Century Newspapers Online , newspapers , Malmesbury Union Workhouse , local history , libraries , landlord , keywords , jury , John Matthews , John Aubrey , Jacksons Oxford Journal , information , Inclemency of the Weather , http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisureandculture/libr , http://www.swindon.gov.uk/leisuresport/libraries/2 , History Centre , heir , family fortune , eureka moment , distraction , Devizes prison , Death , court case concerning , Coroner’s , computers , clergyman , browsing , Bromham , Brinkworth , astrological , articles , Arthur Orton , art , antiquarian , 1873

Like many researchers, when I am browsing newspapers and other records I am often distracted by other interesting stories or snippets of information. When searching for articles online, there is less distraction as you are already narrowing your search terms to produce that eureka moment. But what online research does provide for, something that should be in every Local Historian’s toolkit, is what I call the art of serendipity, or more bluntly putting in a couple of keywords and see what happens, with surprising results! (You see, we have all done it).
The Titchbourne Claimant 
The Titchborne Claimant

In the spirit of research on behalf of our faithful blog readers I thought I would search two online resources to which both Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council subscribe on your behalf. These are the Times Digital Archive and Nineteenth Century Newspapers Online. These are available 24/7 to Wiltshire Libraries and Swindon Libraries members respectively, through the following links: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisureandculture/librarieshome/libraryonlineresources.htm. To find out which other Wiltshire stories were discovered, please 'read more'... 

 

http://www.swindon.gov.uk/leisuresport/libraries/24hourlibrary.htm



Comment (0) Read More...